Rogue nation N Korea is very dangerous : Trump
As North Korea announced on Sunday that it has successfully tested a hydrogen bomb that could be loaded on to a long-range missile capable of reaching America, President Donald Trump slammed the reclusive state as a "rogue nation" that is "very hostile and dangerous to the United States".
Significantly, he declined to rule out a retaliatory strike, noting that any appeasement will not work with Pyongyang as "they understand only one thing". "We'll see," Trump commented as he came out after attending church services and reporters asked him if he would attack North Korea. He said he would be meeting Defence Secretary Jim Mattis, White House Chief of Staff John Kelly and other military leaders to discuss the issue.
"The national security team is monitoring this closely," White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters, adding the President would have a meeting later in the day. What was Pyongyang's sixth and most powerful nuclear test was seen in Washington as a strong show of defiance against Trump who had last month threatened "fire and fury" if North Korea continued to threaten the US with nuclear missiles.
"North Korea has conducted a major nuclear test. Their words and actions continue to be very hostile and dangerous to the United States," Trump said in a series of tweets on Sunday morning.
Asserting that any policy of appeasement won't work with Pyongyang, Trump specifically targeted US ally South Korea, remarking: "South Korea is finding, as I have told them, that their talk of appeasement with North Korea will not work, they only understand one thing!"
He also obliquely criticized China for its inability to bring the Kim Jong-un regime on track, commenting: "North Korea is a rogue nation which has become a great threat and embarrassment to China, which is trying to help but with little success."
Washington has been sending out mixed messages in recent days about dealing with Pyongyang's spree of aggressive moves. While Trump himself has been holding forth on the futility of talks with North Korea, his senior Cabinet colleagues - Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Defence Secretary Jim Mattis - have not ruled out diplomatic options.
Questioning the diplomatic approach, Trump had last Wednesday commented: "The US has been talking to North Korea, and paying them extortion money, for 25 years. Talking is not the answer!" Gen. Mattis, who appeared later at the Pentagon with his visiting South Korean counterpart, said the US was "never out of diplomatic options".
Initial analysis by US experts on the Sunday test appeared divided. Vipin Narang, an Indian-American expert on nuclear proliferation and strategy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, labelled the latest North Korean nuclear device a "city buster".
"Now, with even relatively inaccurate intercontinental ballistic missile technology, they can destroy the better part of a city with this yield," Narang told The Washington Post.
But David Albright, president of the Institute for Science and International Security, doubted Pyongyang's claims of perfect success of the test, suggesting the voiced was skeptical of North Korea's claims and said that the photos were likely "propaganda."
China: A Chinese expert on North Korea says the country conducted its sixth nuclear test on Sunday to damage the atmosphere at the summit of the Chinese-led group of large and emerging countries known as BRICS. China's foreign ministry has condemned North Korea's sixth nuclear test. The ministry said in a statement Sunday that the Chinese Government has "expressed firm opposition and strong condemnation" of Sunday's detonation. China urged North Korea to "stop taking erroneous actions that deteriorate the situation."
South Korea: South Korea's National Security Director Chung Eui-yong said President Moon Jae-in will seek every available diplomatic measure, including new sanctions from the United Nations Security Council. He says Moon will also discuss with Washington ways to deploy the "strongest strategic assets" the US has to completely isolate Pyongyang. The response comes in the wake of the North's confirmation that it has successfully tested a hydrogen bomb of "unprecedented" strength meant to be loaded into an intercontinental ballistic missile. The nuclear test triggered a strong earthquake. South Korea's presidential office says the security chiefs for Seoul and Washington have spoken following North Korea's sixth nuclear test. The office says US National Security Adviser HR McMaster spoke with his South Korean counterpart, Chung Eui-yong, for 20 minutes in an emergency phone call about an hour after the detonation. South Korea's weather agency says the apparent detonation set off a magnitude 5.7 earthquake, making the blast five to six times stronger than the North's fifth test in September 2016.
Germany: German Vice-Chancellor Angela Merkel spoke on the phone Sunday with French President Emmanuel Macron. Her office says both leaders "condemn North Korea's new nuclear tests in the sharpest possible terms" and that "the latest provocation by the rulers in Pyongyang has reached a new dimension." Macron's office said he, Merkel and Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni agree on the need for a "strong international reaction" against North Korea, including new sanctions from the EU.
UK: British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson called the test "reckless" in a statement and said "all options are on the table."
European Union: The European Union's foreign policy chief says North Korea's sixth nuclear test represents a "major provocation" and "a grave threat to regional and international security." Federica Mogherini also said in a statement that Pyongyang "must abandon its nuclear, weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missile programs in a complete, verifiable and irreversible manner and immediately cease all related activities." Mogherini said she will meet Monday with Yukiya Amano, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, to discuss North Korea.
NATO: NATO's secretary-general has strongly condemned North Korea's sixth nuclear test, calling it "yet another flagrant violation of multiple UN Security Council resolutions." Jens Stoltenberg also said in a statement that "NATO is concerned by Pyongyang's destabilising pattern of behaviour, which poses a threat to regional and international security."
RUSSIA: The Russian Foreign Ministry says North Korea's claim to have tested a hydrogen bomb "deserves the strongest condemnation." It's calling for all parties to refrain from escalating tensions further. The ministry issued a statement Sunday urging immediate dialogue and negotiations. It says that's the only way settle the Korean Peninsula's problems, "including the nuclear one."
JAPAN: Japan's Prime Minister slammed North Korea's nuclear test as "absolutely unacceptable" and said its nuclear and missile programmes now pose a "more grave and urgent" threat to his country. "The fact that North Korea forced through a nuclear test this time is absolutely unacceptable to our country," Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said in a statement. The North described the test of what it called a hydrogen bomb as a "perfect success". "North Korea's nuclear and missile development programme is a threat that is more grave and urgent to the safety of our country and has entered a new stage," Abe said.
Source : https://www.dailypioneer.com/world/rogue-nation-n-korea-is-very-dangerous-trump.html